The Now Interviews at the Architecture Biennale Venice 2010: Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist / Part 1/2

Within the framework of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, art curator, critic and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist conducted live public interviews with every Biennale participant. The six-day live marathon took place in the Arsenale from August 22 through 27. Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed artists and architects such as Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), Golden Lion winner Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry.

In a short break after his interview with Wim Wenders, VernissageTV had the chance to meet up with Hans Ulrich Obrist and ask him how his interview series started and evolved and what is the concept behind the Now Interviews project in Venice. In the second part of this episode that will be published tomorrow, Hans Ulrich Obrist talks about the main idea of the project in Venice, the exhibition layout and new insights he took from his stay in Venice.

Hans Ulrich Obrist is Co-director, Exhibitions & Programmes and Director of International Projects with the Serpentine Gallery in London. He was born in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1968. Obrist first gained art world attention in 1991, when he mounted an exhibition in the kitchen of his apartment entitled “The Kitchen Show”, featuring work by artists such as Christian Boltanski and Peter Fischli & David Weiss. According to the art publication Art Review, he is the most powerful figure in the art world (Art Review Power 100 list 2009).

The interviews are shown on a series of monitors at the Arsenale. They are on view at the Architecture Biennale in Venice until November 21. The installation has been designed by SANAA. The Now Interviews is the inaugural project organized by the Institute of the 21st Century. Led by Bettina Korek, the institute is dedicated to promoting experimental modes of collaboration and patronage for the arts. Officially launching in 2011, the Institute’s first objective is to preserve and increase public access to Hans Ulrich Obrist’s ongoing project and archive online.

The Now Interviews at the Architecture Biennale Venice 2010: Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, part 1/2. Venice, Italy, August 27, 2010.

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